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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

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AndyinPA
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Re: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#26

Post by AndyinPA »

https://apnews.com/article/alaska-arizo ... e84b755fb8

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Nearly 40 law enforcement officials, tribal leaders, social workers and survivors of violence have been named to a federal commission tasked with helping improve how the government addresses a decades-long crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans and Alaska Natives, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced Thursday.

The committee’s creation means that for the first time, the voices guiding the Interior and Justice departments in the effort will include people most affected by the epidemic, said Haaland, the first Native American to lead a cabinet department.

She said the panel includes members with diverse experiences and backgrounds, representing communities from Alaska and Washington to Arizona, Oklahoma and Michigan. It will craft recommendations on how the government can better tackle a disproportionately high number of unsolved cases in which Native Americans and Alaska Natives have disappeared or been killed.

“It will take a focused effort — and time — to unravel the many threads that contribute to the alarming rates of these cases,” Haaland said during a virtual event.[/quote]
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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pipistrelle
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Re: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#27

Post by pipistrelle »

Excellent. Find out why they happen, why they’re ignored, and how to help prevent them.

I knew she’d be good. :thumbsup:
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Re: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#28

Post by keith »

“It will take a focused effort — and time — to unravel the many threads that contribute to the alarming rates of these cases,” Haaland said during a virtual event. Haaland said during a virtual event.
Yes, so this will only operate until the next GOP administration, and will only have any hope of funding until the next majority shift in Congress.

So please, make haste slowly, but do make haste.
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#29

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/navaj ... r-AA12UV7i
Navajo woman walks from Ariz. to D.C. to spotlight her missing aunt, other victims

Seraphine Warren stepped foot in Washington on Sunday evening, with the eagle feathers on her prayer staff waving in the breeze, as she completed her nearly 2,400-mile prayer walk from Sweetwater, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation. She undertook the journey in honor of her aunt Ella Mae Begay, a Dineh (Navajo) elder who disappeared 16 months ago, and to raise awareness of the alarming numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous people, especially women.

The missing and murdered Indigenous women movement (#MMIW) has gained traction in recent years as Native American activists have criticized tribal and federal law enforcement officials for failing to aggressively investigate cases and the courts for failing to prosecute. Conflicts over jurisdiction, lack of data and systemic racism have been cited for creating what some have called an invisible epidemic. Various reports have shown that Indigenous women face a higher risk of violence in their lifetimes, from sexual assault to murder.

“It feels like us, as Natives, we’re not important,” Warren said in an interview last week, citing both the lack of support from law enforcement and of media attention when Indigenous people, who include Native Americans and Alaska Natives, go missing.

More than 84 percent of Indigenous women will experience violence in their lifetimes, according to a report from the National Institute of Justice, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says murder is the third leading cause of death for girls and young women. The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports that for women living on reservations the murder rate is 10 times higher than the national average.
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AndyinPA
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#30

Post by AndyinPA »

Excellent article. I read it on WaPo last night; meant to post it. Thanks.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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pipistrelle
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#31

Post by pipistrelle »

Crossposted from Canada:
RTH10260 wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 3:44 am
Canadian man charged with murdering four Indigenous women
Two of the women killed around the same time as Rebecca Contois are also Indigenous, and the third is believed to be

Associated Press in Winnipeg
Thu 1 Dec 2022 22.37 GMT

A Canadian man previously charged with murdering an Indigenous woman has been accused of killing three other women – two also confirmed to be Indigenous and one believed to be.

Jeremy Skibicki was charged 18 May and kept in custody after the partial remains of Rebecca Contois, 24, were found in a garbage bin near an apartment building. Contois lived in Winnipeg but was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River.

Police at the time said they were not ruling out more victims. On Thursday, they said Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in three other deaths in the same short period in the spring.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... men-murder
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#32

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... ler-victim
The unidentified victim of an alleged serial killer in Canada has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by grieving community members, amid growing fears that a woman who is believed to be Indigenous would remain nameless.

Last week, Winnipeg police charged Jeremy Skibicki in the deaths of three women. Two were named as Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26 of Long Plain First Nation, but the third woman has not been identified. Skibick had previously been charged in May in the killing of 24-year-old Rebecca Contois of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation.

Police had canvassed the city in a bid to identify the fourth victim, they have made little progress.

“We don’t want somebody to be known as unidentified. For us, a life is sacred and we have to honour that,” Bernadette Smith, a provincial lawmaker whose sister Claudette Osborne, went missing 12 years ago, said at a vigil for the murdered women on Sunday evening. “When you go into a ceremony and you’re seeking a name, Buffalo Woman is often the name you’re given until they find your name.”
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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pipistrelle
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#33

Post by pipistrelle »

Technically not murdered, but yikes.
An almost completely full courtroom on the second floor of the Pennington County courthouse was thick with silent grief Friday afternoon for the arraignment of a local man accused of running over a 14-year-old girl on a Rapid City street in October before fleeing the scene, washing his truck and painting his rims, according to charges.

Jordan Hare, 27, pleaded not guilty after Judge Matt Brown informed him of his rights and the state read the charge of felony hit-and-run resulting in a death or injury. The charge is a class six felony with a maximum penalty of two years in prison and up to a $4,000 fine. He is also charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail and up to a $500 fine.
***
However, South Dakota law does not make a distinction between hit-and-runs resulting in an injury versus a death. The charge is the same, as is the potential sentence.
https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/man-a ... 2f4f7.html
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#34

Post by jcolvin2 »

Depending on the facts surrounding the hit and run, it is possible that the killing could be charged as manslaughter in the second degree:

22-16-20. Manslaughter in the second degree.

Any reckless killing of one human being, including an unborn child, by the act or procurement of another which, under the provisions of this chapter, is neither murder nor manslaughter in the first degree, nor excusable nor justifiable homicide, is manslaughter in the second degree. Manslaughter in the second degree is a Class 4 felony.

22-6-1(7) Class 4 felony: ten years imprisonment in the state penitentiary. In addition, a fine of twenty thousand dollars may be imposed;
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RVInit
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#35

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'Dances With Wolves' actor arrested in Nevada sex abuse case

Las Vegas police on Tuesday arrested and raided the home of a former “Dances With Wolves” actor turned alleged cult leader accused of sexually assaulting young Indigenous girls during a period spanning two decades, according to police records obtained by The Associated Press.

Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, who goes by Nathan Chasing Horse, was taken into custody in the afternoon near the North Las Vegas home he is said to share with his five wives. SWAT officers were seen outside the two-story home in the evening as detectives searched the property.

Known for his role as the young Sioux tribe member Smiles a Lot in the Oscar-winning Kevin Costner film, Chasing Horse gained a reputation among tribes across the United States and in Canada as a so-called medicine man who performed healing ceremonies and spiritual gatherings and, police allege, used his position to abuse young Native American girls.

His arrest is the culmination of a monthslong investigation that began after police received a tip in October 2022. According to a 50-page search warrant obtained by AP, Chasing Horse is believed to be the leader of a cult known as The Circle.

And it comes as state attorneys general and lawmakers around the U.S. are looking into creating specialized units to handle cases involving Native women.
More here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/da ... 9030d&ocid
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AndyinPA
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#36

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https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radi ... nous-women
Lackluster responses and languishing cases are the norm for many families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), an epidemic in the US and Canada that has in recent years received significant national media attention, though few answers for loved ones. Investigations “usually end up having to be done by the family and the community members themselves”, Lucy Simpson, the executive director of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, told the Guardian. “In so many of these cases, it’s the family that finds their loved one, that does the search to find their loved one because law enforcement doesn’t participate, or doesn’t feel that it’s a priority, or makes excuses based on generally accepted stereotypes about Native people.”

Over three episodes, Murder in Big Horn examines the MMIW crisis in microcosm and in context, through four families still seeking answers and through the history of cultural and physical violence against Indigenous people in the US. Montana has one of the worst missing or murdered rates for Indigenous women in the country – according to a state report from 2017-2019, Indigenous people comprised about 6.7% of the population but accounted for 26% of missing persons cases. Big Horn county, in which 65% of the population identifies as Native American, has the worst rate in the state; by the time Selena Not Afraid disappeared on New Year’s Day 2020, she was at least the 28th missing Indigenous woman in the county for the prior year.



Starting on Showtime, Sunday, February 5, 10:00 EST.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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pipistrelle
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#37

Post by pipistrelle »

Also happening in New Mexico.

Police investigating Indigenous people getting 'recruited' to check into Phoenix rehab centers
TUBA CITY, Ariz. — Indigenous residents in Northern Arizona are allegedly being targeted by people trying to take them to behavioral health centers in the Phoenix area, police say.

Sgt. Rowland Dash with the Navajo Police Department said he's never seen anything like this before.

The situation came to Dash's attention back in August after speaking to a local man who claimed to have been picked up by a white van and transported to a residential treatment center in Phoenix.

"I started getting more, and more, and more calls like that," Dash said.

These reports involved Navajo residents either walking down the street or at flea markets getting picked up by people in white vans or SUVs and then disappearing. Investigators say those driving are claiming to be behavioral health recruiters and tell victims they will take them to a group home for treatment.

However, once they get to the Valley, police say some of them have no way of getting back to the Navajo Nation and are stranded.

Sgt. Dash could not yet say whether any criminal activity is taking place since the cases are still under investigation.
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

#38

Post by p0rtia »

Thanks, Pip.

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